Keep it up and it'll be just like the 2nd half of the 90s again......with NOTHING.

While I did like the last batch of Sonic Games, The Hedgehog could have a rest, I mean I bet there are being released about 3+ Sonics games this year.
4-2, All-Stars 2 and the usual main game at the end of the year.

Sega it's treating the cow a little better, but it still milking it as hell.

I don't think we'll be seeing another main game this year. 4-2 will likely hit in May as the pulled Xbox LIVE description detailed, and ASR 2 will probably release in time for the Holiday season. This year will probably be like '07 or '09. A few spin-off games, but no main-release. (Unless you count Sonic 4 installments as a main release, of course)

I'm honestly hoping our treat this year is Generations DLC. I'd take that over a new game any day of the week.

Keep it up and it'll be just like the 2nd half of the 90s again......with NOTHING.

While I did like the last batch of Sonic Games, The Hedgehog could have a rest, I mean I bet there are being released about 3+ Sonics games this year.
4-2, All-Stars 2 and the usual main game at the end of the year.

Sega it's treating the cow a little better, but it still milking it as hell.

I don't think we'll be seeing another main game this year. 4-2 will likely hit in May as the pulled Xbox LIVE description detailed, and ASR 2 will probably release in time for the Holiday season. This year will probably be like '07 or '09. A few spin-off games, but no main-release. (Unless you count Sonic 4 installments as a main release, of course)

I'm honestly hoping our treat this year is Generations DLC. I'd take that over a new game any day of the week.

Same here! Generations is a winning formula as far as I'm concerned, and I'm worried how much of that will be sacrificed in the next game for the sake of Iizukas "innovations".

What matters to me is if the game is "fun", "playable" and if "you enjoyed myself". I don't need a Sonic game that played "exactly" how it did 20 years ago. So what if the physics are off by a smidge, big fucking deal. I'm still gonna enjoy the damn game. Call it "low standards" if you must, but I rather enjoy something then bitch about the littlest shit that barely anyone notices.

Must your standards be so fucking high that you can't enjoy the other aspects of a game? Sonic 4 Ep 2. "seems" (<--- keyword there) to be shaping up to be a better game then the 1st episode. The graphics "are" better then the 1st Ep and comes included with with a new graphics engine, new online co-op and the better physics engine has been confirmed by SEGA themselves... Only thing I would to complain about is why we're only getting 4 zones again. Too damn short :/

Remember too, Sonic Team isn't developing this... This game in no way has the budget that games like Unleashed or Generations had either. Don't expect that type of quality in an low budget "arcade downloadable game".

Sonic 4 is nothing but little filler games fed to us while we wait for the mainstream games to be released by Sonic Team and hell, if the game is fun, thats what matters. Mistakes are being learned over time and Sonic games have been getting "better" in quality.

To be fair, Sonic 4 looks, plays, and sounds like ass. I enjoyed it, and it's not really the abomination everyone makes it out to be, but it's very forgettable.

The problem is when they attach the Sonic 4 moniker to it, peoples' expectations are going to be through the roof, but it is as you've said "nothing but little filler games." Say someone was commissioned to build a skyscraper, and they end up building a house. The construction guys wouldn't say "Well, it is a pretty darn fine house," they'd be pissed. They subject themselves to a whole new level of scrutiny by pitching it as a sequel to Sonic 3.

If they had called it Sonic HD and said "This is a quick little throwback to our favorite levels in Sonic 1 and 2 with a couple new twists" and sold it for like 5 bucks it would have been fine. But it's not, and they sold it for 15 dollars because they knew people would pay for a Sonic 4.

Episode II seems to be better but I'll wait to see it in motion first.

Is the implication that pelikan13 might have been hired by Sega to provide graphics for S4EII? Or just that Sega asked him to give up before aping his graphics?

The only significant similarity I see is the grass in the first zone, but it's not exactly a completely original idea that was unlikely to have been stumbled upon by at least two people. The only other connection that can be made is that they both use 3D graphics on a 2D plane—a style descended from the classic Zones of Generations, not from any other game that happens to use 3D.

Of course, we can wonder whether Sega took notes from SFR, especially since many people here clamoured for them to do so, but all of this is nothing but speculation.

As for Sonic 4: Episode 2, I would say that the art direction in general seems much more cohesive, and a huge step-up from the first episode, and it's kind of hard to claim otherwise.

It was remarkably easy! I don't see anyone trying to contest my criticisms here. It's a more cohesive game and that's the only thing it has going for it. Cobbling together a visually consistent product is dead simple when there's a complete lack of variety.

Shade Vortex, on 18 February 2012 - 07:03 AM, said:

Fact is, no matter what, there will always be people who aren't pleased. And around these parts, a large chunk of people are downright hard to please

Only four people are actively rebuking the game by my count. That's a huge chunk?

I suppose I was exaggerating, but the point stands. -Some- people have higher standards than the world's finest food critics. But regardless,, I'm going to just ignore the posts of the incredibly obnoxious people who act like Kogen and Andrew were/are acting.

Anyways, it seems that thanks to Woun, he has gone ahead and begun translating the Famitsu article on S4E2 (I think into Russian, though), and some other people at Sonic Stadium have seemingly divulged the first stage's name as Sylvania Castle Zone. If that's true, at least they're using the Latin word for "Forest land" instead of saying Forest Castle Zone.

I'm just going to ignore the blatant instigation Ritz is doing, and discuss the important, relevant subject at hand.

And honestly, I would like to believe the "same tree" thing was intentional from a transitional standpoint, so you can tell that the two levels are "connected' and that you're actually moving from locations that are nearby eachother. Either that, or it was lazily done for budgeting reasons.

This post has been edited by Shade Vortex: 18 February 2012 - 05:48 PM

Why does everyone make the comparison between the graphics styles of Sonic Fan Remix and Sonic 4 Episode II? That of Fan Remix is a lot more realistic and complex than that of Ep II, which seems to rely upon 2d and 3d objects used in conjunction. The games are quite dissimilar, and the grass is simply a coincidence. I believe it was Sega's intention to model each episode based upon its classic numerical counterpart, Sonic 2, and Sonic Fan Remix does the same. This is the only true similarity that one such as myself can see. Can everyone recall when people hoped that Sega was using Taxman's engine, or that Sega could be "stealing" his work. Most people apparently have shifted their focus to the theft of Sonic Fan Remix.

All in all, I'm more interested in the information we've been given, namely the screens. The graphics have indeed improved, at least in my eyes, but we can not judge the physics. I can remember seeing someone posting an image of Sonic jumping, and assuming that it had more momentum: baseless speculation. I will happily wait until we get the first glimpse of Sonic 4 Episode II in motion, and hear its soundtrack. In Episode 1's case, the reaction to the physics contained laughter and incredulity. Perhaps this time we'll have a pleasant surprise. Otherwise, everyone could take up a new hobby, such as sewing or something more useful.

This post has been edited by synchronizer: 18 February 2012 - 05:53 PM

Anyway, the soundtrack is what I'm interested in. Sonic 4 Episode 1's music is still better than that of Sonic Chronicles (uugghkskghsKG), but hopefully there will be a little more variety when it comes to the instrumentation, and longer durations of time for each track.

This post has been edited by synchronizer: 18 February 2012 - 07:26 PM

Same here! Generations is a winning formula as far as I'm concerned, and I'm worried how much of that will be sacrificed in the next game for the sake of Iizukas "innovations".

Sorry Mac, but the formula is sinkin'. Colours sold less than Unleashed, and Generations sold less than Colours. If they keep it up the next game should not even pass 2 million sales at a semi-budget price.

'Modern' Sonic is essentially ARC at this moment. It might be true that he refined himself in many ways, but he is still fundamentally retarded at his core. It may pain you to throw him away, but if this glass factory is ever going to keep up with the competition, he gotta go.

Despite the poop-fest that is Sonic 4, at least there is an attempt at changing the gameplay. Sonic 4 e1 raped it and made it worse, but here - just perhaps! - the game might be something similar to fun. Classic Sonic was sort of fun, so they are kind-of capable with that.

Shade Vortex, on 18 February 2012 - 04:35 PM, said:

I suppose I was exaggerating, but the point stands. -Some- people have higher standards than the world's finest food critics. But regardless,, I'm going to just ignore the posts of the incredibly obnoxious people who act like Kogen and Andrew were/are acting.

Anyways, it seems that thanks to Woun, he has gone ahead and begun translating the Famitsu article on S4E2 (I think into Russian, though), and some other people at Sonic Stadium have seemingly divulged the first stage's name as Sylvania Castle Zone. If that's true, at least they're using the Latin word for "Forest land" instead of saying Forest Castle Zone.